You have been living in Oklahoma City for 3 years and 2 months and since arriving here, you've claimed to have been looking for a church to call home. You've visited churches based on location, recommendation, service time and because you just happened to be driving by as people flooded into a building. Until today, nothing felt completely like home. Some had great worship and preaching but very unwelcoming people. Some had great people but terribly dry worship and preaching. Some started too early or seemed like too far to drive. Some were great in every way but you were the bad fit, with insufficient facial piercings and tattoos or in the wrong age group or economic class.
A few times you've tried to just "plug in" and make it work. Join a group, volunteer to serve, answer the alter call...because you understand after having worked at a church that finding a church to call home requires some effort on your part, a willingness to go outside your comfort zone and make an effort to get to know people. But it never worked and eventually, you would begin searching again.
Today you went to two services. Two different churches on opposite sides of town recommended by two different friends. These two churches could not have been more different. In the first, you felt shamefully underdressed in your jeans and leopard print wedges, but in the second, you felt a little too dolled up. One group sang hymns which you never mind because they remind you of the church you grew up in. The other felt more like a rock concert which you loved because nobody loves great worship music more than you do. One made you almost angry and the other made you weep with joy and peace and gratefulness. And as you were driving home, suddenly, to borrow a phrase from the bible (and Springsteen), you were blinded by the light. And you knew you'd found a church home.
You finally remembered what Pete used to say: when you want to do God's will but don't know where to begin, just look to see where God is moving and then go there and join Him.
I know you've been spoiled because you've had the chance to be a part of some amazing churches where you got to know some incredible pastors and their families. The idea of joining a church where you'll probably never meet the pastor, where he will probably never know your name, where you'll never tell him your struggles or ask for his prayers...well...it seems weird somehow. And yet, when you think of other pastors whose messages have impacted you powerfully, they are part of churches that, if you attended, would be the same way - you'd never get to have coffee with Andy Stanley and his family or ask Joel Osteen for prayer or hang out with Steven Furtick and his wife or babysit for Joseph Prince. Even if you still attended the church most dear to your heart, you probably wouldn't have the same access to Pete and Brandi Wilson like you did back when it was a start-up church meeting in the school. And yet, you have the chance to be a part of a church here in Oklahoma City that is making a powerful impact just like all those others.
So self, you know what to do. Now do it. Pick a location, find a life group, start volunteering and commit to your new local church home because it truly is the hope of the world.
PS I am pretty sure the words to that song in your head are NOT "wrap it up like a deuce and then a'roll it tight" - I'm just saying...
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